SEATTLE — A leading cancer researcher is coming to Sequim this week to explain the potential for a vaccine to prevent breast cancer relapse.
Nora Disis, a University of Washington professor who also works at Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, will give a free talk at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Olympic Medical Services building at 840 N. Fifth Ave., Sequim.
An oncologist affiliated with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Disis is developing the HER2/neu shot, a vaccine designed to harness the body’s own immune responses to fight cancer.
Sequim’s Olympic Medical Cancer Center is a Seattle Cancer Care Alliance partner, and Disis is eager to share her findings with doctors and patients here.
“You want to go and meet your team,” she said.
“I’ll be very much focusing on the clinical advances we’re seeing with cancer immune therapy.”
In Disis’ clinic, “amazing things are happening,” she added.
The time frame for a breast cancer vaccine coming into wide use has gone from “maybe in my lifetime, to probably in the next five years.”
The National Institutes of Health are funding Disis’ team’s work on the vaccine; that means Americans’ tax dollars are paying for the research.
“People need to know they’re finally seeing a return on the investment,” Disis said.
The work Disis and colleagues are doing in Seattle is state of the art, said Thomas Kummet, an oncologist who treats breast cancer patients at Olympic Medical Center.
“The Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center deserve their reputation for doing cutting-edge research.”
Outreach program
Disis’ visit to Sequim “is part of their outreach program to make sure people in the state know what’s going on.”
This experimental therapy that happens in clinical trials is “an intense one-on-one experience” between doctor and patient, Disis said.
“Cancer treatment is becoming much more personalized; we’re trying to target what’s causing your cancer.”
Her Sequim visit, however, is not just about public relations.
Disis hopes to find women who qualify for the current trial of the HER2/neu vaccine, while Kummet said OMC is exploring the possibility of administering the vaccine at the Sequim cancer center.
Disis added that if she can identify just a few more patients — women whose tumors carry the HER2/neu protein and whose cancer has not metastasized — she can complete the enrollment of the clinical trial.
“We would love to interact more” with the doctors and patients in Sequim, she said, “so we can move things forward faster.”
Average of 100 per year
Olympic Medical Center treats breast cancer patients predominantly from both Clallam and Jefferson counties, at an average of 100 per year, said OMC spokeswoman Bobby Beeman.
Of those, 85 percent came from Clallam, 13.7 percent came from Jefferson and 1.2 percent traveled from other counties.
During her talk, Disis will present the data gathered so far in the studies of using the immune system to fight off the reappearance of breast cancer.
“The early results of Dr. Disis’ research can give new hope to women” at high risk of recurrence of breast cancer, said Rhonda Curry, OMC assistant administrator.
And Disis won’t merely lecture and leave.
“My talk will be about 45 minutes,” she said, adding, “I would like to have about 20 minutes for conversation, so people can stay and talk.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.